mlfoster

The latest fiscal cliff idea: a higher federal gas tax. State highway officials and industries that stand to benefit from increased highway spending such as road builders and heavy equipment makers are among those pressing lawmakers to raise the 18.4-cent-a-gallon federal gasoline tax as part of a broad agreement. It's just one of a grab bag of proposals various groups are trying to tuck into a deal. [View news story]

Raising the gax tax is an excellent idea. It is clear that we need both increased revenue AND reduced spending to right our sinking fiscal ship. We should do what our lawmakers are so reluctant to do and focus on consumption-oriented taxes.

In comparision to European countries, gasoline taxes in the US are a drop in the bucket.

FHFA head Edward DeMarco says the benefits of principal writedowns don't outweigh the costs or risks. In an open letter on its website DeMarco states that after extensive analysis of the various programs, the FHFA has concluded principal forgiveness did not clearly improve foreclosure avoidance while reducing costs to taxpayers relative to the agencies current approaches. [View news story]

Thankfully Mr. DeMarco has the courage to stand up and oppose the efforts of this administration to effectively give another handout to borrowers at the expense of taxpayers.

Wall Street protesters have a famous - and wealthy - new fan: Warren Buffett’s son, Howard, who says he sympathizes with concerns over the growing divide between the haves and have-nots: “There has never been a time in my lifetime when the government is going to cut an incredible amount of programs that support poor people and feed them." [View news story]

Ok Howard, most of us are concerned about the growing divide, but as far as I can tell these people have not proposed one thing to correct anything. They just seem to want to protest. That doesn't solve anything anymore than a government that wants to continue handing out money it doesn't have to people who don't want to work for it.